Nowhere to Run
by catparkenthusiast
Summary: Booker DeWitt and Corvo Attano get to the bottom of the murder of Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, an Assassin member who was supposedly killed by Templars. But when it comes to the details, were the Templars really behind it?


Booker DeWitt rubbed his temples while hunched over the mountains of paperwork left over from previous cases. God he needed a drink.

No.

He made a silent promise to Elizabeth that he would clean himself up so that she would stay with him. Ever since her mother died, she made every day a living hell for him, constantly muttering about how he had gotten her killed. How was he supposed to know that those men would track him down and kill Annabelle? He thought he had terminated the Russian threat, but the latter event proved that statement wrong.

"DeWitt," Corvo's low gruff voice beckoned from the door's threshold.

Booker rubbed his eyes with the tips of his fingers, "What's wrong, Corv?"

"We got a call from Sheriff Havelock. He says they found a body by the dock, an Assassin to be more specific. The Templars had a pretty large bounty on his head, so the Watch is calling us in as an unbiased party. Havelock thought it might've been an unauthorized hit, so he's going to get to the bottom of it so that they don't have an angry mob of Assassin supporters on their hands."

"Why would Havelock care if it's an unauthorized hit? The City Watch can just sweep it under the rug and blame it on a drug ring; they've done it before, why not do it again?"

"The Templars are a private group of organized killers that are close to the police and everyone knows that they have beef with the Assassins. They run every contract through the cops and the blues have it cleared for a little cash under the table, therefore all the victims become missing people that never come home, so if a body washes up for a gaggle of dock workers to see, the cops have a murder case on hand, with all fingers pointing at the Temps."

"So why are we going there? To find a way to clear the Templars?" DeWitt leaned back in his chair.

"No, this doesn't have Templar written on it. The Watch has reported strange markings surrounding the body. Templars are weird, but from what I've heard, this seems a little too...on the cult side of things."

"Alright," Booker started to put his holsters on, "We leave in ten. Gives us something to do for a while."

Corvo nodded and began to walk out.

"Corvo-" The taller man turned, "I think this is the most I've ever heard you say in a single conversation."

DeWitt's second in command grunted in response and went to gather his gear.

"Good talk," Booker muttered.

"Ah, my two favorite PI's," Sheriff Farley Havelock called from behind, clapping both men on the shoulder. Booker turned to look at him, while Corvo jerked his body away from the old officer.

Corvo had told Booker earlier in their friendship that something about Havelock made him feel uncomfortable. Booker later learned that making Corvo Attano uncomfortable was quite a feat and should not be taken lightly.

"You're a little jumpy there, son," Havelock chuckled, walking in between the two towards the waterline, both men following far behind, "Victim's name is Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. Twenty-six years old, respected member of the Assassins, ten thousand dollar bounty on his head by the Templars, and was last seen talking to an unknown one-armed man about two weeks ago. He's been dead for at least a day, but his body is decomposing at an unusually fast rate according to our coroner's report, but there's something unusual about his death that doesn't suggest Templars, but another party. Something I've never seen before. It's well, erm, it's...Better for you to just see for yourself," Havelock stepped to the side so the private investigators could view the corpse.

Booker gasped and Corvo simply grimaced, for on the ground was the young man's body with multiple gashes and stab wounds surrounded by strange circular marks and bones of some sort. Black blood was oozing out of every orifice and maggots were crawling out of his open wounds. It was certainly gruesome and unusual.

"Sir, I don't think this is up our alley. This looks a little extreme for us. There's obviously something else going on here, you should probably call the FBI," DeWitt offered.

"We can't do that. The history of Templars and Assassins would cloud their judgement, and we- sorry, the Templars- would be run out of this city. Besides we would be willing to pay a large amount for your services."

Booker looked at the body and then at Corvo. He needed a job to pay the rent, not sit in an office with his name on a door. If he did this, he could keep a roof over Elizabeth's head for a little while longer. Corvo glanced up from the body and made eye contact with Booker. Corvo opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it allowing Booker to turn towards Havelock, "We'll take it."


End file.
